Criticality and Activism Expressed By Banneker and Douglass

As they have exemplified in their writing, both Benjamin Banneker and Frederick Douglass have expressed their criticality towards the treatment of African Americans during the 18th and 19th century. Banneker through his letter to Thomas Jefferson, and Douglass through his autobiography express their frustrations with the mentality of those who condone slavery. Both Banneker and Douglass express criticality and activism in different ways, which lead to different effects on society. Criticality, in the broadest sense, is one's willingness to critique the world caused by the belief that there is something wrong with the current situation while activism is a willingness to take action and change the world through public behavior (Lecture 8/12). In order to be an effective activist, one must first learn to be critical. 
One of the reasons that Banneker and Douglass were so different were the methods through which they brought their ideas to the public. Banneker chose to express his contempt by exposing Jefferson's hypocrisy in a letter addressed directly to Jefferson. Banneker does note that Jefferson is an ally to the African American community but goes on to question why he, after stating in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal," chooses to ignore what he stated and allows himself to own slaves. In a piercing tone, Banneker writes, "Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges (...) that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you professedly detested in others, with respect to yourselves." Banneker also rejects Jefferson's scientific racism as a justification of slavery by using himself as living proof that African Americans are not biologically inferior because he is educated in math and science and even creates an almanac. Banneker may have written this letter privately to Jefferson, but he does publicly expose it after publishing the letter in his almanac for everyone to see. However, even though Banneker did publish his letter, he did not publicly demonstrate for an end to slavery or scientific racism thus illustrating that he undertook a limited form of activism (Lecture 8/12). 
Contrasting Banneker, Douglass took to a more public, and in my opinion more effective, form of activism. Douglass not only lived the life of a slave and used criticality and activism to set himself free, but he then shared his story with the world to spread awareness of the injustices that African Americans had to endure. Also different from Banneker, Douglass was a common slave and his background was more relatable to the public than Banneker, who was educated and did not experience slavery first-hand. Douglass's criticality was embedded because his critique emerged from within slavery itself (Lecture 8/12). Along with having a deeper rooted critique, Douglass displayed more activism because he took it upon himself to not only spread awareness, but also educate his fellow brethren so that they too could be critical and set themselves free (Douglass, p.94). In his narrative he says, "I taught them because it was the delight of my soul to be doing something that looked like bettering the condition of my race." (Douglass, p.95). Douglass was willing to take a risk and put his life on the line in order to create change. In the final chapter of his narrative, Douglass does not disclose exactly how he freed himself so that slave masters would not use this information to prevent their slaves from running away. He later includes his escape story after that possibility was no longer an issue. In addition to his written story, he also travelled the world to spread his story orally in order to reach a wider audience. This is ultimately more effective because the majority of slaves at the time could not read so he made sure everyone could hear his story.
Even though the two have contrasting approaches to spreading their ideas, Banneker and Douglass have set good examples to follow in terms of alerting the public when there is something wrong. In recent news, the events that took place in Ferguson, Missouri show that there are still issues regarding racism in today's progressive society. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a well known athlete, is following Douglass's examples of activism and is trying to tell the public that there are injustices still taking place. He wrote a blog article for Time.com stating his frustrations regarding the shooting in Ferguson where he also gives a background on systemic racism and class warfare and their correlation. He states, "This fist-shaking of everyone's racial agenda distracts American from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor"(The Coming Race War). Jabbar calls all students to action saying that we "need more protests" and that we need to organize ourselves and determine what needs to be changed and how we will go about doing so or else we will face more tragedies like this one. 

Douglass, Banneker, and Jabbar are all strong example of activists who took to writing to express their criticality. Although some of their approaches may be more effective than others, they all ultimately help in spreading awareness which will lead to progress being made in the name of justice.